A House Divided
by Prince Odin of Hadendelle
Summary: American Civil War Frozen AU. Elsa is the owner of quite large farming estate along with her sister, Anna, and Anna's husband, Kristoff. The place is a peaceful area until a wounded Confederate soldier comes along and claims ownership of the house until he's fully healed. Later a Union soldier comes along and it's up to Elsa to make these two agree to make peace.
1. 1) Unexpected Party Guest

**Hey guys, I'm back with another Frozen fan fic, but this one is completely different from Fire King. This one is an AU during the civil war; that's as far as I will go because I don't want to spoil anything. I will try to stay as historically accurate as possible but no promises. I also want to say that this is just a trial run, if I get good reviews on this story I will continue; if not I'll just scrap the whole project.**

**So enjoy, leave a review, fav/follow. (Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen)**

The sun sets slowly over the tree line as another day comes to a close. The evening rays paint the sky with red, orange, and pink shades. The sky became a piece of art that not even Di Vinci could copy. As the sun sets, a farmer, wearing an average farming shirt and denim overalls, loads the last of his wheat onto his cart. His stomach growling with intense hunger, _I can't wait to get some of that cornbread_, he thought to himself. He lifted his last bundle of wheat onto the cart, walked up to the front, stepped onto the cart and sat at the driver's seat. He grabbed the reigns and said, "Alright Sven," he said to his horse, "Lets head on home and get some grub." He whipped the reigns and the large horse pulled the cart forward and towards home.

As they rode along, they passed by a small encampment of confederate soldiers. They troops were battle weary and exhausted from a battle they had just previously fought. The farmer sighed at the sight of it all; the civil war has been going on for almost two months now and already hundreds of American soldiers are dead.

He got through the encampment without having to be stopped at all. But what he saw next took his breath away, and not in a good way. What lay before him was the post picture of the battle of Boonville. Too many confederate and union soldiers lied on the ground, all either dead or dying. The wounds left by musket rifles were gory and bloody like some beast had torn into the body. The faces of the men were all different; some had faces of shock, faces of fear, but only a few had calm faces like they accepted death when they realized that they were about to die.

Further he rode until he finally made it to his house where he could just smell the savory carrot stew and the sweet corn bread with homemade molasses. He breathed in deep through the nose, taking in the wondrous smells, and letting out an exhale of desire for that food. He wished that he could go fast but he didn't want to drop his load, so he slowly drove the cart being tortured by the smells.

When he finally reached the house he immediately got off the cart and instantly walks towards it while still being tortured by the smells. The door opened and out came his wife who rush to him and gave enclosed him in her arms. "Happy Birthday Kristoff," the woman said; compared to Kristoff she was pretty small. She wore a simple dress and had a bonnet over her strawberry blonde hair with the hair in two braids.

"Thank you Anna," said Kristoff, "So when can I cut open into that cornbread?"

Anna gave Kristoff a quizzical look, "You know it's funny that you are more excited about the cornbread than about your cake."

"The cake comes in a close second, but you should know by now how much I love your cornbread."

"That's true, well can cut into it," she was about to say now but she caught a small whiff of her husband's sweaty odor, "as soon as you take bath because you stink," she finished.

Kristoff makes a small chuckle and leans in closer to Anna's face, "Can I my birthday kiss first," he said in a teasing tone.

He was about to combine both of their lips until Anna lifted her finger to his mouth, "After the bath," she said.

Kristoff made a pouting face as a joke. He brightened up, pecked his lips on his wife's forehead and headed to the back of the barn where the tub was.

Anna walked back into the house to finish up dinner. Now I forgot to mention that this farm was a rather large farm; the house seemed like an estate but still had that farm like element to it. They had blacks as their workers but they paid them, they didn't believe in the idea of slavery. The inside of the house was just like the outside, seemed like and estate but had farm elements. Anna rushed to the kitchen where her friend and head maid, Gerda, was working on the stew. Anna's older sister, Elsa, was next to her helping her by chopping up some vegetables.

The farm once belonged to the girl's parents, but when the war came both of their parents went to help out with the war. Their father was a reserve officer before he was farmer, so he was captain of a unit and their mother was a nurse. They were located at Fort Sumter; when the massive attack by the confederates was made on the fort, the captain and nurse's shelter was instantly struck by the first cannonball. Both were killed in the blast. Now Elsa owns the farm and her sister and her husband, who she married far before Fort Sumter, stay there trying to help her in any way. Even though she has workers, trying to manage a farm is still a big thing to do.

Anna walks over to the pot that holds the carrot stew. She grabs a teaspoon that sits next to the pot, dips the spoon in the pot, and draws spoon near to her mouth. Now one thing you should know about Gerda is that she is a big black woman with a booming voice, no one ever dares to cross her. So when she saw that spoonful of stew in Anna's hand she shouted, "Get your hands off that stew!"

Anna froze when she heard Gerda. Elsa was trying to hold back a laugh thinking, _Busted_. Gerda walked over to Anna and yanked the spoon from her hands and pointed her mixing spoon at Anna's face. "You are not to touch this stew until dinner," commanded Anna. Anna held up her hands in surrender and backed away slowly from the pot. Elsa was still trying to hold back her laughter but couldn't keep it in and heaven knows she tried. Anna looked at Elsa with the most annoyed look imaginable and left the kitchen and went to the living room.

After Elsa was done in the kitchen, she went and met her sister in the living room where Anna was quietly reading. Elsa sat on the chair next to Anna; Anna looked up from her book and saw her sister still giggling from what happen in the kitchen. "You outta know by now that Gerda doesn't like anyone stealing from her kitchen," said Elsa.

"I wasn't stealing, I was just getting some of the stew without asking Gerda," said Anna.

"That's what stealing basically is." Elsa made a small chuckle at her sister's comment. "So I can imagine that Kristoff is excited about today?"

"You can more that imagine it; he tried to come into the house with his sweaty and smelly body all for a piece of cornbread."

"I still can't believe that he's more excited about the cornbread than his cake."

"He did come from a pretty poor family," it was true. Kristoff's family was quite poor but to make things worse it was pretty large. Every male had to get a job in order to help support it; they were able to make enough money to put food on the table but necessities, like cornbread and molasses, were extremely rare. When Kristoff met Anna last year far before the war, he had dinner with her family after dating Anna for about a week. When he saw the cornbread his eyes were wide and ever since then cornbread has always been his favorite treat.

"You know Anna," said Elsa, "You guys don't have to stay here; you can get a farm of your own."

"I know," replied Anna, "But I want to stay here until you find someone who can help you with the management of this place."

"I don't need a man in my life Anna, besides Kai," who was the head butler, "Helps me from time to time."

"Elsa please," Anna set down her book and look Elsa straight in the eyes, "You and I both know that you aren't better on your own. You need someone who you else, besides me and Kristoff, that you can call family."

"Anna, I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a lone wolf I don't anybody else in my life."

"Elsa…" Suddenly they heard the front door fly open and saw Kristoff walk into the living room in his nicest outfit, that he somehow managed to get out of the house without anyone noticing, and his hair in his original shaggy style but still a little wet.

"So, when's dinner?" Just so you know, when a guy is hungry the first words that come to his mind is 'when's dinner' because food is all they want right now. (**AN: ladies, guys have two basic needs: eating and sleeping, that's all there is to it. There's a third one but I won't say for there might be young ears reading this.**)

They all had dinner in the formal dining room. Elsa was still giggling a bit from the kitchen event; everything went as you might expect at a normal birthday dinner. They all watched Kristoff open his presents, he got some new overalls from Elsa, a new shirt from Anna, and, to his surprise, a colt revolver from the servants. It was an odd gift since he wasn't much into guns but with everything going on it wouldn't be a bad idea to have one nearby. They all enjoyed the stew and cornbread; Kristoff blew out the candles on his cake and they all enjoyed that as well.

That evening, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff retired to the living room. Elsa read a book while Kristoff fiddled with his gun with Anna leaned up against his large, masculine body. "So have you two ever thought about children yet," asked Elsa breaking the silence.

That saying made Kristoff freeze still; he always wanted to have kids with Anna but the thought ran away from his mind when his birthday rolled around. Anna's reaction, however, was just a normal one; she looked at Elsa and said, "Well we haven't really thought about having kids for a while."

"Really, because wasn't it last week, at the trading post in town, that you were surfing through isles that supplied baby clothes and accessories?"

This was true; Anna had her mind on having a kid the month after her honeymoon with Kristoff. Almost every time she went to trading post she would look at least five different types of baby related items. Anna smirked, "Ok well I have been thinking about it; I don't know about Kristoff though."

Kristoff looked up from his gun, "Well I completely forgot about it when my birthday started rolling around."

"Have you two been trying," asked Elsa

"We've been trying that past few weeks but so far nothing has come up." She looked up at her husband with a worried look, "I guess we could try again."

Kristoff had a quizzical look on his face, "You mean, right now?"

That made Elsa's eyes widen so much that it almost seemed like they were about to take up her whole face, "Dear God not here please!"

Anna and Kristoff tried to stifle a laugh but failed. "Come on," said Anna, "Let's take this upstairs." They got up from the sofa and headed upstairs, giggling the entire way.

Elsa shook her head, with a small smile on her face, wondering how two people could be in so much love. She continued reading her book for about another hour. When she got up from chair, she headed up the stairs to her room and got ready for bed. She stripped herself of her day clothes and put on a simple light blue night gown. She got in bed, closed her eyes, and went into a deep sleep.

Later that night, about around midnight, the estate had an unexpected visitor. It was man carrying a musket rifle, he had light gray pants with overalls and a white shirt with spots of dirt all over it. He had a knife strapped to his right boot. He walked with a slight limp since he had a bullet wound in his left thigh; the blood was a bit dry but wet enough to know that it is fresh. He walked around the house with his rifle out in front of him ready to fire. He searched room to room on the first level. When he was half way through the house, he heard footsteps coming from upstairs down here.

The steps lead to the living room; he ran behind the wall between the dining room and the living room, out of sight. "I know I left it down here," he heard a male voice. "Well can you hurry up, I'm tired," he heard another voice but this one is female. The mysterious man looked around the corner to see who was down here. He saw a bulk man with blonde hair and small woman with strawberry blonde hair. "Ah, here it is," said the bulk man. He picked up a colt revolver, _Must be a yankee officer_ thought the mysterious man.

"Okay, I'm going back to bed Captain Kristoff," said Anna in a teasing tone.

Kristoff gave a small chuckle, "Right behind y-," Kristoff was cut off. Anna turned around and saw her husband on the floor clutching his head. Standing over him was the mysterious man; Anna gave a small but quite loud scream, loud enough to wake Elsa from her deep sleep.

Elsa burst out of her room and ran downstairs to see a man holding a rifle aimed at Anna and Kristoff on the floor. The man aimed his rifle at both of them now and said, "This house is now in possession of the army of the Confederate States of America."

**Tell me what you think of this and tell if I should continue. Now these chapters will be shorter than the chapters from my other story, Fire King, because that ended so soon and I want to spread this story out a bit more over time. And for those guys who are reading this and have read Fire King, I'm going to tell you that there is going to be a sequel of Odin with the Two Brothers by ImBRIAN. Also check out Two Brothers because that's the second story in the Fire King trilogy.**

**Leave a review of what you think of this story, fav/follow and tell me what you think should happen in this, I'm open to ideas. See you soon and dream on!**


	2. 2) All Alone

**So it kind of looks like you guys are enjoying this story, slowly but surely the views are rising. I guess I'll have to give you guys another chapter, oh the pain *sarcasm*. Like I said before I will try to stay as historically accurate as possible but no promises. Leave a review, fav/follow, and enjoy.**

"This house is now under the control of the Confederate States of America," said the stranger.

Elsa and Anna looked at the men not knowing what to do. He had the two at gun point and the only man close enough to protect them is flat on the ground unconscious. Elsa looked at the man and noticed how wounded he was. Not only did she see the bullet wound in his leg but he also had a deep, fresh but in his right arm. She realized that he wasn't being a ruthless johnny reb, but he was just scared (**AN: Johnny reb was one of the nicknames Union soldiers gave to Confederate soldiers; like redcoats in the revolution or krauts in World War 2, no offense**). She looked at him with a kinder look than a look of fear, "Who are you," she asked.

The man still just looked at Elsa with fake anger in his eyes, "That's none of your business," he replied.

"If you are going to stay in my house I have to know who you are."

The stranger look softened a bit but he still had his gun pointed at the two girls, "Ego quid mihi placeat."

Anna and Elsa looked at each other, "I'm sorry but what did you say," asked Elsa.

"Ego quid mihi placeat," the man repeated, "It means, 'I am what I think.'"

"Well it doesn't sound English, I know that much," piped in Anna.

"It's Latin, am I correct," Elsa asked the man.

The man nodded, "Yes; so it means that I am of what I think is true, so I am a Confederate."

Elsa was a little annoyed by this man's stubbornness, "Do you go by anything else?"

The man put his gun down and sighed, "Alex," he exhaled, "You can call me Alex."

Anna realized that he didn't seem to like his name, "Is there a reason why you don't like your name," she asked.

"Anna," Elsa nudged her.

Alex placed the bud of his gun on the floor trying to support himself; he's been standing for a long time that his wounded leg was starting to give way. "It's perfectly fine; I don't go by Alex because it brings back too many memories."

"What kind of memories," Anna asked.

"Anna," Elsa nudged her sister a little bit harder this time. She noticed the pained look on his face; it was faint but slightly noticeable. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. Would you like for us to get someone to wrap your leg and arm?"

"No it's fine," Alex reached into his satchel that he had at his side and pulled out a somewhat clean rag and began to wrap it around his leg. But while he was doing this, Kristoff was waking up and saw the Confederate above him; so Kristoff swept his leg under the soldier, making both their legs collide.

Alex fell to the ground when he was half way done wrapping his leg. Kristoff got up above Alex and pointed his revolver at Alex. "Who do you think you are for barging in here and thinking this place is yours," shouted Kristoff. Alex just laid there on the ground with hands up in surrender.

"Kristoff don't," shouted Anna from behind him, "He's wounded; he was just looking for a place to stay."

"Then why the heck did he knock me out," said Kristoff.

"He was scared, he thought we were with the Union," said Elsa.

Kristoff looked down at Alex, "Is that true," he asked him.

"More or less," replied Alex, "I thought you might have been a Yankee officer so I kind of hit you with my gun."

"Very well," Kristoff lowered his gun and held out his to lift Alex up. Alex reached with his right arm, but he forgot that it was wounded. So when Kristoff pulled him up, a surge of pain rolled through him causing him to grip his arm.

Elsa noticed this, "Are you okay?"

Before Alex could answer, Gerda came barging from her room, "What in heaven's sake is going on," she said with her loud booming voice. When she walked into the living room, she saw Alex standing there with the other three. Her eyes widened when she saw him, "Why is there a Confederate in the house!?"

Elsa went over to Gerda trying to calm her down, "Gerda, this is Alex. He's wounded and he's just looking for a place to stay."

"Miss Elsa, you know how I feel about slave owners in the house."

Alex began to walk over to Gerda, "You don't have to worry," he reassured her, "I don't believe in the right of slavery. Ever since I could remember, I always thought that the right for one man to own another was a stupid idea."

Gerda was surprised to hear this; she had never in her life ever heard of a Confederate that didn't believe in slavery. She began to grow a big smile on her face and gripped her hands to Alex's arms. "I thought I would never see the day when I meet a southerner who actually favors black people. Come, I'll get that arm and leg of yours wrapped up."

Alex, trying to ignore the pain from the woman's grip, smiled at her, "Thank you but that won't be necessary." He lifted up his hand to show the rag that he had as a bandage.

Gerda shook her head, "If you think I'm going to let you patch yourself up in some dirty old rag than you got another thing coming. You'll catch smallpox if you do that; come with me." She gripped Alex's hand and pulled him towards the kitchen.

Elsa and Anna giggled a little when they saw Gerda hall Alex but Kristoff had a stern look on his face. Anna noticed this and asked, "Kristoff is everything alright?"

Kristoff rubbed his mouth and said, "I'm not sure if we should trust this guy."

"There's no need to worry about him," Elsa reassured him, "He's a wounded soldier, all alone, and no sign of a confederate unit nearby. I'm pretty sure he's harmless."

"Don't worry honey," said Anna, "He's just staying until he's fully healed and then he'll be on his way."

Kristoff still kept his stern look but after a few moments he sighed and said, "I guess you're right; he's alone and wounded, he shouldn't be able to do us any harm."

Anna cheered up, "Great, now let's go and meet them in the kitchen."

The three then began walking towards the kitchen to check on Gerda and Alex. Kristoff still wasn't one-hundred percent sure if Alex was safe; he never trusted the confederates, not after what they did to him.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Alex sat on stool, with his leg levitated, nibbling on the leftover cornbread. Gerda put a box of first aid supplies on the table next to Alex and pulled out a dark brown colored bottle. She cut the clothing covering his leg wound to make the wound more visible and uncorked the bottle. "So how long have you- GAAAAHHHH SHHHHIIII," screamed Alex as the liquid from the bottle began pouring on his leg.

Gerda looked up at Alex after he screamed. "Sorry," she apologized, "But on the bright side, the alcohol will disinfect the wound."

"Good to know," Alex said through his teeth.

"So what were you asking," Gerda asked as she looked for a cleaning rag.

"I was asking how long have you worked for here?"

"Oh well I worked for Miss Elsa long before she was even born."

"Which one is Elsa?"

"Elsa is the young lady with the platinum blonde hair. The redhead is her little sister Anna and the big guy is Anna's husband, Kristoff."

"Y'alls names don't sound American."

"Well, I was born in America but I was given this name by her father after my mother passed away. Miss Elsa's family is originally Norwegian; her great grandfather built this farm not long after the revolution and it's been passed down from generation to generation. My mother and father used to work for Elsa's grandfather for a few years until her father took up the farming business."

"Are you a slave for them?"

After Gerda found the rag and cleaned the wound, she pulled out a roll of white bandages and began rolling the white cloth around his leg tightly. "No," she replied, "All of the workers here are paid and treated fairly. This is one of few farms that actually do the same as us here."

"So what happen to your mother and father?"

"They died smallpox when I was six; Miss Elsa's father was saddened by their deaths that he raised me and my older brother, Kai, and gave us our new names."

"Doesn't that kind of mean he owns you?"

"We didn't really mind the new names; we actually thought they were kind of funny since their some of their Norwegian names sound funny. So what about you Master Alex, where are you from?"

"I'm not exactly from anywhere. Before the war I used to travel, the road basically was my home."

"What did you do that required you to travel a lot?"

"I was a transcontinental mail carrier."

"Did you have a home before you became a mail carrier?"

"No, my parents died when I was young boy and I took up the job when I was thirteen."

Gerda was shocked to hear this, "Oh my, I'm so sorry dear."

"There's no need to apologize, the past is in the past."

Gerda got up and began working on Alex's arm. She cut off the shirt sleeve and poured some alcohol over the cut. Alex let out another scream from the stinging pain of the liquid. Just as he screamed, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff were just walking into the kitchen. "Is everything alright," asked Elsa.

"Perfectly fine Miss Elsa," replied Gerda, "The young man is just a wimp when it comes to disinfectant."

Alex gave Gerda a smirk, "I'm right here you know," he said.

"I know," said Gerda with a teasing tone in her voice. Gerda grabbed the cleaning rag and began cleaning off the cut.

Elsa walked over to Alex and pulled up a chair right next to him and sat down. "We agreed to let you stay until you're fully healed then you can go," she told him.

"Um, Miss Elsa?" Elsa turned her head towards Gerda, who had a distraught look on her face. Gerda motioned her, Kristoff, and Anna to one side of the kitchen far from Alex.

When they gathered on the far side, the three wanted to know what was going on with Gerda. "Gerda," said Anna, "What's going on?"

Gerda looked at the three, "I'm not sure if you noticed but this boy's got nowhere to go. Boonville is under Union control and there isn't a Confederate camp for miles. If I might suggest is that we can let him stay here for a while and when he's healed, he can help out around the farm."

Kristoff looked at Gerda with an annoyed look, "Are you sure that's a wise decision, what if he can't be trusted?"

"Kristoff," said in an annoyed tone, "I thought we agreed that we wouldn't worry about him."

"I know but there's just something about him that gives me an uneasy feeling."

"Just don't worry about Kristoff," said Elsa, she then turned her attention back to Gerda, "You think that's good idea of letting him stay?"

"He's had a rough life and no place to call home, the least we can do is give him a place to stay until he gets back on his feet," said Gerda

Elsa was stunned to hear that Alex was all alone. She knew how he felt and she didn't want anyone to be go through what she went through. "Ok, I guess he can stay here for a while," she agreed.

Gerda was excited to hear this. She instantly ran over to Alex and told him the good news. Kristoff was having the exact opposite feelings from Gerda's reaction, but he knew that he had to accept it no matter what he was feeling.

Later that night, Gerda led Alex, who was now walking with a crutch until he could walk normally, to one of the guest rooms in the house. Alex was happy to have an actual room. It was a simple room with a one person sized bed, an empty dresser, mirror, and some paintings on the walls. Gerda left the room leaving Alex by himself. Alex walked over to the bed, sat down on it and rubbed his hands over the soft covers still trying to realize that he had a bed now. He laid down his head on the pillow and instantly went into a deep sleep. But even though he was fast asleep doesn't mean he had a goodnight's rest.

"_You have been housing slaves in your house," Shouted a tall man with a bushy beard. He held up a gun at a man and woman._

"_We open our house to anyone who needs help, no matter what they're race is," said the man at who was at gun point._

"_I will not allow you to house niggers in your house, you either enslave them or kill them."_

"_No, I won't enslave blacks, and I will not allow you to" BANG._

_The man was shot dead; the women next to him held him in her arms but she was soon shot dead. "MOMMY! DADDY," shouted a small boy in the distance. The shooter ran away as the boy came up to his dead parents._

"_Son," said the father with his dying breath, "Never believe in slavery, but don't abandon the south. Promise me Alex."_

"_I promise Papa," said young Alex as he gripped his father's hand. The father's grip loosen as his last breath left him._

"FATHER," shouted Alex as he shot up from his bed. His body and the sheets were soaked in cold sweat, his breathed heavy as he tried to recover from what happen. He thought that the dreams had left him but now they returned, why?

**Leave a review, fav/follow, and I will see you guys next time.**

**Dream on!**


	3. 3) Damp

**This chapter will probably be the last chapter for a while because I have midterms coming up and my 16****th**** birthday is right after them so I will be pretty busy. I might post another chapter the last week of March but my family is taking me to Nashville to see Wicked for my birthday, so no promises. So I hope you guys will be patient with me over the next week or so and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The peeked through the window as the morning crow of the rooster began. The sun covered Alex's sleeping face; his eye's cringed at the brightness but the rest of his face was relaxed at the warmth of it. Slowly his eyelids open revealing two blue eyes whose pupils were just adjusting to the light. Alex woke up to also feel that his bed sheets were damp from his sweating last night. After his previous nightmare, Alex wasn't able to get any good sleep but he was able to keep his eyes closed and his body relaxed. Alex slowly brought his leg over the side of the, cringing at the pain in his leg. He grabbed his crutch, which was resting on the night stand, got up, and walked over to the window. He looked out the window to see the workers heading out to the fields. After a few moments, a knock on the door brought Alex to his attention, "Come in," he said.

The door opened and in walked Gerda who was carrying a basket filled with pure white sheets. "Good morning Master Alex," she said, "I hope you slept well?"

Alex turned from the window and smiled at her, "Morning Gerda, I had a fair sleep."

"Well that's good to hear," she walked towards the bed and set the basket beside the bed, "Well I got breakfast already down there for you. Don't mind what I'm doing, I forgot to change the sheets the last time we had a guest so you will have clean sheets tonight."

"Thank you very kindly; I think I'll head on downstairs now, that breakfast smells really good."

"Hope you enjoy it, I'll talk to you later honey." Alex turned away from Gerda and began limping his way towards the door and down the hall.

When Alex left the room, Gerda began stripping the sheets off the bed. But she noticed something peculiar about the sheets; they were really damp from the head to the foot of the bed. She smelled the sheets but it was odorless, _I wonder…could this man have…oh he might _Gerda thought. She continued to strip the sheets and replaced them with drier, cleaner sheets. She put the damp sheet in basket and went back downstairs.

When she was downstairs, she walked into the living room and saw Elsa sipping on her cup of coffee and looking over the agricultural section of the newspaper. Gerda walked over to Elsa and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. Elsa looked up from the paper and turned her head towards Gerda, "Good morning Gerda," Elsa said, "Is there something wrong?"

"May I have a word of your time Miss Elsa," Gerda asked. Elsa nodded and patted the seat next to her for Gerda to sit down at. Gerda set the basket behind the sofa, walked around it, and slowly sat down on the sofa. "I've noticed something peculiar when I went up to change Master Alex's bed sheets."

"What do you mean "peculiar"?"

"I was stripping off the bed sheets when I noticed that the sheets were damp from the head of the bed to the foot."

"Oh my, did it have an odor?"

"No, it was like someone spilled water on the sheets while Alex was sleeping, and I can assure you that those sheets were dry when he went up there last night."

"So what do you think caused it?"

"I have a feeling that this young man may have soldiers heart." (**AN: Soldiers heart was the civil war term used for PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.**)

"Are you sure that what you think it is?"

"I'm positive, I had it a little bit of soldiers heart the first few months after my parents died and I would wake up to damp bed sheets from the sweat I got from the nightmares."

"Poor fellow, he must feel awful about it."

"He doesn't seem too happy about it yes; I asked him how he slept and he said he slept fair but I know his night was horrific."

Elsa became even sorrier for Alex, not only was he injured physically but mentally as well. "What do you think we should do," she asked Gerda.

"We should observe him and see if it gets any worse, that's what your father did with me. But we need to look from a far, not make him feel like he's being watched like a hawk staring at a mouse."

"Ok, where is he now?"

"I would assume he's in the kitchen eating breakfast, you can go and talk him I'm going to get these sheets washed." Gerda got up from her seat, walked back around the sofa, and picked up the basket and headed on to the washroom.

Elsa got up after Gerda left and began making her way to the kitchen. When walked in, she could hear Alex moaning with delight because of the taste of the food. She looked at this plate and saw some hickory smoked sausage, scrambled eggs, and a biscuit that had a little bit of jam on it. When Alex saw Elsa walk in he swallowed the food in his mouth and stopped his moaning, "I have got to say, this without a doubt beats the food they serve us in the army," Alex joked.

Elsa giggled a little at his comment, "What did they feed you in the army," Elsa was curious to since all her father said was that it was nothing compared to home cooked food.

"They mostly served us gruel for breakfast, some stale bread for lunch, and watery vegetable stew for dinner." His face cringed at the thought of it.

Elsa's face also cringed at the thought of it as well, she had never been a big fan of gruel and the rest just sounded terrible. "Well I can assure you that we always make sure that the food will always beat the military's food."

"Well that's good to hear," Alex continued to eat his food as Elsa sat at the seat across from him. "So where are Anna and Kristoff?"

"Anna helps out with the chickens and the cows while Kristoff helps out in the fields."

"How old are the two anyway?"

"Kristoff is eighteen and Anna is fifteen."

Alex choked a little on his food when he heard how young Anna was, "I'm sorry did you just say she's fifteen?"

"Yes why?"

"Don't you think she's kind of young to be married at this point?" (**AN: This is probably what you all are thinking at this point. The youngest age to get married at that time was 14-16 for girls and 16-18 for guys, mostly because they had a shorter life span than us.**)

"Well that's what I thought at first but I got over it in the end."

The sat in silence while Alex finished his breakfast and Elsa worked on her coffee. After the silence started to become a little bit awkward, Elsa had to say something but she soon regretted what she said, "How long have you been having nightmares?" Her face cringed at her sentence; she mentally slapped herself for saying that.

Alex didn't seem to mind the question as much, he was used to, "I've had nightmares ever since my parents died, sometimes the day they were killed still haunts me. Lately I've been able to go to sleep with it bothering me but for some reason it returned."

"What do you mean 'return,'" Elsa was confused; she always thought that dreams were all different and you never had the same one.

"I don't know, it just somehow came back and I don't know why."

"What was the dream?" Elsa mentally slapped herself again, _what are you doing, he might find this uncomfortable _she thought to herself.

Alex chuckled a little bit at the face Elsa made after her question. "There's no need to beat yourself over for getting deep into my life, I'm used to it," he said trying to relax her, "My dream is more of a bad memory; it's when I saw my parents get shot by a small mob. Sometimes the small mob is viewed as one big man because they all looked the same to me and I guess the mind can transform a bunch of look a likes into a one giant person."

Alex drooped his head to the side a little bit; even though it doesn't it bother him a lot it still makes him upset just thinking about it. Elsa noticed this, "You don't have to tell me the story if you don't want to," she gently said.

"Thank you," he said. "If you would be so kind, I was wondering if you can point me in the direction of the outhouse," he said as he got up slowly from the chair.

"It's just out that door, you should be able to see it clearly," she pointed to the kitchen door that lead out to the backyard. Alex thanked her and crutched his way outside. Gerda came back in and took care of Alex's dishes. Elsa finished off her coffee, placed her cup in the washtub and headed her way upstairs to get dressed. But just before she started her way up, Anna came rushing into through the front door with a worried look on her face, "Elsa," she said, her voice sounded more scared than worried, "There's some men here to see you."

_It's probably Weselton trying to buy the land again _she thought to herself. Ever since their parents died, the Weselton Corporation in St. Louis has been trying to buy the farm so they can produce more income. They have made attempts almost every two weeks but Elsa refused every offer not wanting the family heritage to leave the farm. Elsa took a deep breath and said, "Tell them I'll be out in a minute, I need to go get dressed."

Anna nodded and she walked out to tell their "guests" that she will be out soon. The men, that Elsa thought were business men, turned out to be Union soldiers and there were two of them. Anna looked at the two soldiers, "My sister will be out in a moment, she's getting dressed," she said.

"Very well, I guess we'll wait," said a soldier who had a big bushy beard and short brown hair, three chevrons on his arm, which meant he was a sergeant, dark blue uniform and brown pants.

The men next to him had a clean shave except for the big sideburns and medium length hair, but short enough for military standards, that was dark orange. He had the same type of clothes as the first man but he had one chevron which means he was a private.

Meanwhile, while the two soldiers waited up front, Alex just came out of the outhouse having relieved himself finally. _I think I might take a little walk around the farm, get to know the place _he thought to himself. He began walking around the house to the front unaware of what would await him. He slowly made his way to the front but when he saw the two soldiers he froze in place. He looked at his sleeve; on it was a small confederate flag that he had put on for the love of his country; _if they see me with this I'm a dead man_ he thought. He then slowly turned around and began walking back to the back, praying they haven't seen him. "Hey you halt," one of them shouted. _Crap they saw me_; he turned around to look at the soldiers. The one with the sideburns began walking towards him, "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if I could ask you some," the soldier stopped talking when he saw the flag on Alex's sleeve, "Come with me," the troop barked.

He grabbed Alex by the shirt collar and dragged his body towards his fellow soldier, "Hey Brian, looks like this place his housing rebels," the sideburn soldier yelled.

The bearded man who was Brian looked at the sideburn troop, "Well we both know what we do with rebels Hans," said Brian.

Hans, the sideburn troop, dragged Alex in front of Brian and placed him on his knees. Hans aimed his gun at Alex, cocked his gun, and placed his finger on the trigger. "Time to die reb," said Hans

Suddenly a shout came from the front of the house, "Don't shoot him," the voice shouted.

**More will come in the next chapter. Not the best ending for this chapter I know, but I promise more will come soon. But you might not be seeing a chapter for a while because I'm working on the next chapter for Two Brothers (if you haven't read that you should it's pretty good) and I have my 16****th**** birthday this Saturday and my family is taking me to Nashville to see Wicked. So I will try to get a fourth chapter in soon, I promise *crosses heart*. **

**Leave a review of what you think, fav/follow, and I will see you guys next time, Dream On!**


	4. 4) Staying with the enemy

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating lately but I had a lot of stuff going on the past week that I barely had time to even get started on this chapter. Thanks for being patient in waiting for this chapter. I won't talk anymore because I know y'all want to know what happens to Alex. **

"Don't shoot him," a voice cried from the house.

The two yanks and Alex all jerked their heads in the direction of where the house is. They saw Elsa rushing down the stair of the porch in a worried and stressed manor. She began walking very quickly towards the three when Hans aimed his rifle away from Alex and towards Elsa. She suddenly froze in place when the barrel of the gun was level with her eyes.

Brian quickly pushed the rifle down, "Easy there Hans," Brian said, "Ma'am are you the owner of this plantation?"

Elsa took in a deep breath, "Yes, I am," she firmly said but her voice was still a little shaky.

"You do know that this a Confederate reb here, right," Hans barked.

"Yes I do know," replied Elsa, "He's staying here until his wounds are fully healed or until a unit comes and picks him up."

"Ma'am you should know that any harboring of the enemy is illegal in the Union," said Brian.

"What makes you think that the state of Missouri belongs to the Union," said Alex in an annoyed tone.

"Shut up reb," shouted Hans as he bashed Alex in the head with the butt of his rifle.

"That's enough Hans," said Brian.

"Yes I know it's illegal in the Union but Missouri is neutral in this war so I have the right to house who ever I want," said Elsa who became bit more stern now. "Look I don't want this war to come to my land."

"The war already came to your land when you allowed this reb to stay here," shouted Hans who's anger was boiling inside of him, ready to blow.

"PRIVATE, AT EASE," shouted Brian who had enough of Hans' voice.

Hans stifled backwards a little bit at his sergeant's booming shout and his aggressively angry tone. He took a few steps back from the three and let them continued their conversation.

Elsa sighed in relief that she could finally talk without interruptions. "Now, may I ask you what brings you to my plantation soldier," Elsa asked.

Brian turned his head away from Hans and looked back at Elsa. "We were separated from our unit and we wish to request a place to stay for the night," said Brian.

"Well I would like to fulfill your wish but I'm not sure if you three will get along," Elsa said as she motioned towards Alex, Hans, and Brian.

"I assure you that I can make my private cooperate one or another, we just need a place to stay and we'll be on our way."

"How about I let you stay until a unit comes along and picks you two up, in exchange you both can help out around the plantation. I hope you had some farming experience in your life?"

Brian chuckled a little at this question, "I ran my family's plantation before the war so I have plenty of farming experience. Hans, on the other hand, grew up in the city but his family owned a bakery and he use to help out with the manual labor."

"Well that's good to hear. You'll have to stay with the Confederate soldier for now, the other two guest rooms are a little unprepared."

"What," said Alex surprised.

"You'll have a few roommates for tonight," said Elsa with a smirk.

"Elsa," Alex said as he got up, grabbed his crutch, and limped over to Elsa, "Isn't there somewhere else they could stay, like the barn."

Brian looked at Alex with an extremely annoyed look, "You know I could say the same thing about you reb," said Brian.

"Alright you two that's enough," ordered Elsa, "It's just for one night. I'll have my servants prepare the other guest rooms. In the meantime, why don't you two come inside and make yourselves comfortable?"

"Very well ma'am," said Brian. Brian and Hans went inside with their gear and weapons.

Once inside Elsa directed the two soldiers up to Alex's room while Elsa went to tell Gerda and Anna about the new guests.

"Are you nuts," cried Anna. Elsa wasn't really expecting that sort of reaction from her sister.

"It's just until a unit comes along and picks them up," says Elsa.

"First you allow a Confederate into our house and now you're allowing two Union soldiers; this is a recipe for disaster!"

"She has a point Miss Elsa," says Gerda, "Letting in a soldier of one side and letting in two of and opposing side can only mean trouble."

Elsa was surprised by this, she thought that of all people Gerda would be giving her the most support; apparently not. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, "They said they'll try to get along as best as they can and"-

"And what if they don't," Anna cut her sister off, "Do you think that these guys will make up just like that?"

"No I don't," said Elsa, "But I know everything will work out one way or another."

Meanwhile upstairs, Hans and Brian entered Alex's room. Brian placed his gun and supply bag by the window while Hans placed his gun and bag by the bed. Hans stretched out his arms and plopped his sore body onto the soft fabric. Brian rolled his eyes at his lazy partner. "Why are we even agreeing to this," asked Hans suddenly.

"What do you mean," replied Brian.

Hans sat up from the bed, "Why are we staying with this reb? They should know that we are the dominating force in this matter. We shouldn't have to put up with this crap."

"Relax; it's only for the night. Tomorrow we'll have our own rooms and we won't have to worry with the Confederate anymore."

"I'm not worried, I'm pissed that this lady actually took in a reb when she knows she's not supposed to."

"She has a right to house any soldier; Missouri is a neutral state, there is no law here saying who she can house and who she cannot."

"But what if the unit that comes is our original unit, if the captain finds out about this he will have our asses handed to us for not instantly reporting it."

"First of all, we don't even know where our unit is and second, we have no fast way of communication with them. If our unit finds us, we'll just say that we had no fast way of reporting it."

"I hope your right, but there is no way I am staying under the same roof with a reb!"

"Well this 'reb' isn't too thrilled about it either," said a voice from right outside the door. Alex walked in with his crutch and glared at the two soldiers. He saw Hans sitting on the bed with his gun and bag by his side. "And you're on my bed."

"What do you mean 'your bed'," said Hans.

"That is my bed that you have your stuff on, I was in this room first," replied Alex.

"Well it's mine now so I guess you'll have to sleep on the floor."

"I have a wounded arm and leg; I need that bed so I can heal quickly."

"Let him have the bed Hans," said Brian, "No use in fighting over it."

Hans grabbed his gun and bag in a quick and angered matter. He walked past Alex, bumping into him on purpose. He set his stuff down in the corner of the room.

"Thank you," Alex said to Brian, "I'm glad to see one of you is using fact over opinion."

Alex walked over to his bed and slowly set his crutch down by his bed and sat himself on the bed. "Well," Alex grunted a little, "It seems like y'all are going to be here a while so I guess we might start off with names. I'll start; my name is Alex Davis."

The other two soldiers hesitated at telling Alex their names. They both looked at each other until Brian decided to go next, "Sergeant Brian Redford," he said.

Hans went last, "Private First-class Hans Malus," he said.

"Well now that we're acquainted I hope we can along a little bit better now," said Alex.

"Don't hold your breath reb," said Hans, "Just because we're staying under the same roof doesn't mean we'll get along." Hans walked towards the door, opened it, and marched out of the room.

"Don't mind Hans," apologized Brian, "He's had the Confederates as a thorn in his side for quite some time."

"Why is that," asked Alex.

"His brother was killed at the Battle of Sewell's Point, cannonball went right through him. Ever since then he's hated every Confederate no matter who they are."

"Then why did you try to kill me even though I was wounded?"

"I don't appreciate it but I had orders from captain to kill any confederate soldier in sight, wounded or not."

"Sounds like Hans and your captain have something in common."

Brian lets his head down in shame and nods slowly, "Sadly true; out captain and Hans both have an extreme hatred for the Confederates."

"I can imagine the get along quite well," Alex joked.

Brian smiled a little bit, "They don't really interact a lot, division of rank mostly, but Hans respects our captain a lot."

"So what about you, what's your opinion about all this?"

Brian rubbed the back of his neck trying to think of an answer, "Personally, I'm not so sure; I want a place to stay until a unit arrives but I also feel uncomfortable to be staying with the enemy."

Alex nodded in agreement, "I know how you feel, but I also don't want any conflict to erupt while we're here."

Brian looked at him with a quizzical look, "What," asked Alex confused.

Brian shook his head, "Nothing it's just that I never really thought I would ever hear a Confederate say that."

"Have you ever met a Confederate before?"

"Well no but-"

"Well then you should know that I'm different from the other rebs, I just want this war to end soon."

"So you don't care which side wins?"

"No, I just want peace." Alex walked slowly to the door, hopping a little bit with each step he took with his crutch, "Come on, let's go get some dinner."

**Again sorry I haven't been updating lately, I've distracted with school since I have my Biology End-of-Course Exam coming up and I'm trying to keep my grades up as well. All of this I'm doing while I'm writing this. But don't you worry, by late May or early June chapters will be coming in quicker since I don't have to worry about school for a while. And for anyone whose reading Two Brothers (the sequel to Fire King) I am working on the chapter but again been busy with school; I'll have that chapter done as soon as possible. I'll talk to you guys later, leave a review, Fav/Follow, and I will see you guys next time. Dream on!**


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